Sensex, Nifty Close At Record Aided By Telecom, Auto & I.T. Stocks

India's stock benchmarks closed at record highs aided by gains in telecom, auto, power and I.T. stocks. Cabinet approval for Production Linked Incentives (PLI) for Auto sector and relief measures for Telecom sector aided the rise.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.82% to 58,723.20, a record close for the 30-stock index which hit a record 58,777.06 in intraday trade. The NSE Nifty 50 advanced by a similar magnitude to 17,519.45, a record close. The 50-stock index hit a record 17,532.70 in intraday trade. This is the first ever time Nifty crossed 17,500. Infosys Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.5%. NTPC Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 7.2%. Today, 35 of 50 shares rose, while 15 fell.

The broader indices almost mirrored larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap adding over 0.6% and S&P BSE SmallCap rising over 0.8%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. advanced, with S&P BSE Telecom index gaining 3.5% and S&P BSE Utilities index adding 2.3%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 2,060 stocks advanced, 1,243 declined and 118 remained unchanged.

"We expect Nifty 50 to conquer 18,000 and above in the medium term. Last matured support for the index is seen at 17,080 above which we remain positive. Options concentration is seen at 17,000 put and 17,500 call – this is indicative of some resistance at 17,500-17,600 levels", Sahaj Agrawal wrote in a note. The Head of Research- Derivatives at Kotak Securities added "value is seen in Auto and Mid-cap Banking stocks; expect outperformance in the midcap space to continue".

Indian bonds advance by the most in almost two months, tracking overnight gains in U.S. Treasuries. The rupee extended gains after the government allowed telecom firms to receive 100% foreign direct investment without any government clearances.

• 10-year yields fall 4bps, the most since July 26, to 6.16%; 5-year yield also drops 4bps to 5.6%

• USD/INR drops 0.3% to 73.4912

Union Cabinet has approved relief measures for the telecom industry, says Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

• Definition of adjusted gross revenue for telecom companies will be rationalised.

• Non-telecom revenue will not be included in AGR.

• India to allow 100% telecom FDI In Automatic Route.

• India to allow unrestricted telecom spectrum sharing.

• India spectrum duration to be 30 years from next auction.

• India to create telecom airwave auction calendar.

• Spectrum can be surrendered after 10 years in case of technology change.

• India to simplify rules for setting up telecom towers.

• India aiming for local core technology for 4G and 5G radio.

• India allows telecom firms 4 years to clear dues to government.

• Cabinet clears moratorium for telecom companies to repay dues.

• Telecom companies to get 4-year moratorium to repay dues to the government.

• Those who avail of the option will pay interest on the moratorium amount.

• Stress in the telecom industry will now be resolved with this decision.

• Move to lead to improved cashflows for telecom companies which then can be deployed for upgradation from 4G networks to 5G.

• All dues, including AGR and spectrum-related dues, will be covered under the moratorium.

• Interest will start accruing from Oct. 1 and the payment will be at the end of the year.

• Government wants to promote healthy competition in the telecom sector.

• There will be further reforms when the 5G spectrum auctions are held.

• More choices for the customer is a stated commitment of the government.

• The framework in the Supreme Court judgment on AGR dues has been maintained in rationalising the definition.

• The judgment had said no past assessments should be done.

• Any AGR definition changes will be prospective and be applicable from an appointed date.

Source: Cabinet Briefing

Watch Live: Cabinet Briefing By Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw & Anurag Thakur

Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw & Anurag Thakur address the media on cabinet decisions taken today.

• Incentives worth Rs 26,058 crore will be provided across the three sectors.

• Outlay for the auto sector incentives will be Rs 25,938 crore.

• Incentives worth Rs 120 crore will be given for the drone sector.

• PLI-scheme will help enhance India's auto manufacturing capabilities and give a boost to electric vehicle production

• The scheme is expected to draw fresh investments of Rs 42,500 crore in five years.

• Incentives will drive incremental production worth over Rs 2.3 lakh crore.

• Most companies in the auto industry will qualify for incentives under the scheme, says Union Minister Anurag Thakur.

• Auto OEMs with over Rs 10,000 crore global revenue will qualify for the incentives.

• Auto component makers with minimum Rs 500 crore revenue will be eligible to apply

• Minimum investment threshold has been set at Rs 3,000 crore for automakers and Rs 150 crore for auto component makers.

Source: Cabinet Briefing

Shares of Rama Steel Tubes Ltd. rose 3.21% to Rs 251 apiece after the company received orders from UPPCL (Lucknow), Jal Shakti Vibhag (Himachal Pradesh), NPCL (Noida) and BSES (New Delhi) aggregating to Rs 42.9 crore.

The orders are primarily for supply of electrical poles and G.I. pipes, the company said in an exchange filing, and added that the new orders will strengthen the company’s orderbook and credibility in the market.

• Shares of Coal India rose 4.88% to Rs 162.25 apiece, higher than any close since June 11. Trading in the company's call options was triple the average.

• Trading volume was triple the 20-day average for this time of the day.

• The relative strength index on the stock was above 70, indicating it may be overbought.

• Coal India trades at 7.2 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year. Analysts have 21 'buy', four 'hold' and three 'sell' recommendations.

• Coal India's annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for today. Shares of Coal India have risen for the past three sessions after reported indicated on Monday that the company is mulling up to 11% price hike.

• TeamLease Services Ltd. is higher for the eighth straight day, on track for the longest winning streak since the period ended Nov. 12, 2018.

• TeamLease has gained a total of 10% during the streak while the S&P BSE Sensex Index increased 1.5%. Shares of Teamlease rose 4.85% to Rs 4,766 apiece in intraday trade before paring most of the gains.

• The relative strength index on the stock was 72, suggesting it may be overbought.

• Of the 14 analysts tracking the stock, 11 maintained 'buy', 1 maintained 'hold' and 2 maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 9.4%

Lupin Ltd. has announced the launch of the authorized generic version of Duexis (Ibuprofen & famotidine) tablets, 800 mg/26.6 mg of Horizon Medicines LLC in the United States, the company said in an exchange filing.

The tablets are indicated for relief of signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and to decrease the risk of developing upper gastrointestinal ulcers.

The tablets had an estimated annual sales of $765 million in the U.S.

Shares of Lupin rose 1.26% to Rs 995 apiece. Of the 41 analysts tracking the company, 19 maintained ‘buy’, 7 maintained ‘hold’ and 15 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 7.9%

• Shares of Supreme Industries Ltd. rose 5.6% to Rs 2,267 apiece, higher than any close since June 17.

• Trading volume was triple the average for this time of the day.

• Supreme Industries trades at 35 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

• Analysts have 18 'buy', six 'hold' and four 'sell' recommendations on the stock.

Pidilite Industries Ltd. approved the scheme of amalgamation of Cipy Polyurethanes Pvt. Ltd. with itself, subject to regulatory approvals.

Since Cipy Polyurethanes is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pidilite, there is no need to obtain ‘No Objection Letter’ from the bourses, the company said.

The merger will result in achieving greater integration and greater financial strength and flexibility to maximize overall shareholders’ values besides leading to cost savings and unfettered access to cashflow generated by combined businesses, due to operational efficiency, Pidilite Industries said in an exchange filing.

Of the 19 analysts tracking the company, 4 maintained ‘buy’, 6 maintained ‘hold’ and 9 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracking the company implied a downside of 14.1%

Shares of Cyient Ltd. rose 7%, the most intraday gains in seven weeks, to Rs 1,115 apiece after the company expanded its digital solutions portfolio for the aerospace industry with PPAP4Aero, a global AS9145 supplier PPAP compliance software and services framework to enable supply chain.

AS9145 establishes requirements to perform Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) and solves a business problem caused by using spreadsheets.

Of the 24 analysts tracking the company, 19 maintained ‘buy’, 4 maintained ‘hold’ and 1 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 0.8%.

• India's planned initial public offering of Life Insurance Corporation of India may value the company at between Rs 8 lakh crore ($109 Billion) and Rs 10 lakh crore.

• Possible valuation is based on preliminary talks and may change after detailed discussions, due diligence and valuation report.

• Government is considering selling a 5-10% stake in the insurer, which could raise between Rs 40,000 crore and Rs 1 lakh crore.

• The size of the offering will depend on various factors such as market appetite.

Source: People Familiar With The Matter

A spokesperson for the finance ministry declined to comment.

An email sent to LIC wasn't immediately answered.

Shares of PDS Multinational Fashions Ltd. added 4.26% to Rs 1,369.25 apiece after the company’s subsidiary, Smart Notch Industrial Ltd., incorporated and registered in Hong Kong, has entered into shareholders agreement with England-based Filkor Ltd.

The cost of acquisition was GBP 5 lakh. The indicative time period for completion of the acquisition is October 31, 2021. In an exchange filing, PDS Multinational said that the investment is in line with the Sustainability and Circularity goals of the company.

India’s cabinet of ministers has approved a telecom relief package in today’s meeting, ET Now reported, citing people it didn’t identify.

• Separately, CNBC-TV18 television channel reported, also citing people it didn’t identify, that the cabinet has approved a moratorium of four years for telecom companies for dues to the govt.

• NOTE: India’s telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will be part of a briefing on cabinet decisions at 3 p.m. local time today, according to a Press Information Bureau statement.

Shares of Thomas Cook India Ltd. added 3.86% to Rs 64.50 apiece after the company extended its partnership with Visa to include Borderless Card to enable Indian consumers to make simple and secure transactions while travelling overseas.

In an exchange filing, Thomas Cook said that the borderless card can be loaded with nine global currencies on a single card – US Dollars, British Pounds, Euro, Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Swiss Francs, Singapore Dollars, Thai Baht and UAE Dirhams.

This comes after ‘The Visa Back to Business Study 2021 Outlook’ which showed that digital payments are here to stay, with 65% of consumers stating preference to use contactless payments.

Trading volume on the stock was 2.1 times the 30-day average volume at-time for this time of the day.

• Blackstone sold $275 million worth of Embassy Office Parks REIT units priced at 355.10 rupees each, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg News.

• Price is a 5.1% discount to last close of 374.21 rupees: terms.

• Deal is as much as 6% of total units outstanding: terms.

• The seller does not intend to divest any additional stake for 90 days: terms.

• JPMorgan and Axis Capital are brokers for the deal.

• Embassy Office Parks REIT fell as much as 5.6%, biggest intraday drop since June 14, after about 28.2m shares changed hands on BSE, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

India's stock benchmarks advanced to record highs, aided by I.T., telecom, auto, utilities, power and consumer durables stocks, as they shrugged off the mixed global cues.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.61% to 58,602.74. The 30-stock index had hit a record 58,622.68 in intraday trade. The NSE Nifty 50 also advanced by similar magnitude to 17,485.95. The 50-stock index hit a record 17,487.85 in intraday trade. Infosys Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.3%. NTPC Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 5.5%. In midday trading, 32 of 50 shares rose, while 18 fell.

The broader indices almost mirrored their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap adding 0.6% and S&P BSE SmallCap rising 0.8%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. advanced, with S&P BSE Utilities, S&P BSE Telecom, S&P BSE Power & S&P BSE Information technology adding 2%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 2,073 stocks advanced, 1,073 declined and 169 remained unchanged.

Shares of Subex Ltd. rose 6.24% to Rs 58.75 apiece after the company broke new ground by filing a patent that will extend its revenue maximization capabilities to the network edge.

In an exchange filing, the company announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted the company’s patent application. With this patent, Subex can help telecom operators and subscribers to take actions provactively to prevent fraud at the source. The patent also marked an important milestone in the 5G roadmap of Subex.

Trading volume was 2.5 times the 30-day average volume at-time for the time of the day.

• 38.6 lakh shares of NHPC Ltd. changed hands in a bunched trade.

• Buyers & sellers were not known.

Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. rose over 1% to Rs 537.30 apiecce after the company successfully completed the Post Marketing Study on Favipiravir (Fabiflu) in India. The study commenced in July 2020 to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Favipiravir in mild to moderate Covid-19 patients.

1,083 patients were enrolled in the study whose findings include no concerns with the use of Favipiravir. The side-effects were also found to be mild in nature. The time for fever resolution was 4 days, while the time taken for clinical cure was 7 days. The average age of patients in the study was 40 years, with women comprising 40%, while men comprised 60% of the study population, Glenmark said in an exchange filing.

This is the first and largest post marketing study conducted in India on Favipiravir in mild-to-moderate Covid-19 patients.

Glenmark became the first company in India to receive restricted emergency use approval for Favipiravir from the drug regulator on June 19, 2020. The approval was granted as part of an accelerated approval process to arrest in surge in Covid-19 cases during the first wave.

Of the 25 analysts tracking the company, 14 maintained 'buy' , 9 maintained 'hold' and 2 maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 21%.

Indian bonds are poised for the biggest advance in almost two weeks, tracking an overnight drop in U.S. yields and crude oil prices. The rupee is steady.

• 10-year yields fall 3bps, the most since Sept. 2, to 6.17%; 5-year yield also drops 3bps to 5.61%

• USD/INR little changed at 73.7162

• The S&P BSE Sensex Index hits a record high 58,563.09 in intraday trade

• Sensex clocked its previous record high of 58,553.07 on September 7

• The NSE Nifty 50 Index hit a record high 17,445.95 in intra-day trade.

Shares of HCL Technologies Ltd. rose 1.71% to Rs 1,259.80 apiece after the company has expanded partnership with Finastra to drive digital transformation across South Korea and Taiwan. Finastra is a pure-play software vendor serving the financial services industry, headquartered in London.

In an exchange filing before market hours Wednesday, HCL Technologies said it will use next-gen digital capabilities to bring two of Finastra’s strategic products – Fushion Cash Management & Fusion Summit, to the financial services ecosystem in the region.

The relative strength index on the stock was 78, suggesting it may be overbought. Of the 49 analysts tracking the company, 41 maintained 'buy', 4 maintained 'hold' and 3 maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 2.9%

• Shares of RBL Bank Ltd. rose 3.36% to Rs 181.25 apiece after the company today started issuing credit cards to its new customers on Visa's payment network.

• The launch comes after successful technology integration with the new platform following the agreement between RBL Bank and Visa on July, the company said in an exchange filing.

• RBL Bank has 5% market share in credit cards in India.

• Trading volume on the stock was 1.8 times the 30-day average volume at-time for this time of the day.

• Of the 30 analysts tracking the company, 17 maintained 'buy', 9 maintained 'hold' and 4 maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 22.9%.

Shares of Astral Ltd. rose 1.42% to Rs 2,136.90 apiece after the company received a credit rating update from CRISIL today.

Long term Rating was upgraded to CRISIL AA/Stable from CRISIL AA-/Positive while Short Term Rating and Commercial Paper ratings were reaffirmed as CRISIL A1+.

Of the 24 analysts tracking the company, 7 maintained ‘buy’, 5 maintained ‘hold’ and 12 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 10.5%.

Yields fell across the India sovereign yield curve in Wednesday morning trading.

• The 4-year yield fell 2.1bps to 5.232%

• The 10-year yield fell 2.1bps to 6.177%

• The 14-year yield fell 2.2bps to 6.692%

• The 4-year-10-year yield spread was 94.5bps, vs previous close 94.5bps

Shares of Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd. rose 4.84% to Rs 86.60 apiece announced the opening of 5 new properties.

Two hotels under the brand Regenta Inn, one under Regenta Place and one under Regenda Central and one under Regenta Resort are the 5 new properties. The new hotels are opened in various destinations across India including Amritsar, Sampbalpur, Somnath and Kabini (in Karnataka).

Trading volume was 10.5 times the 30-day average volume at-time for this time of the day.

Shares of KNR Constructions Ltd. rose 2.8% to Rs 321 apiece after it received the Letter of Acceptance (LoA) for the development of six lane Chittor-Thatchur Highway in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

In an exchange filing, KNR Constructions said that the bid cost of the six-lane project under Bharatmala Pariyojana was Rs 1,041.50. The bid price quoted by KNR Constructions was Rs 954.29 crore. The project will be completed within 24 months and the operation period of the project would be 15 years from the date of completion.

Trading volume on the stock was 1.7 times the 30-day average volume in-time for this time of the day.

Of the 27 analysts tracking the company, 24 maintained ‘buy’, 2 maintained ‘hold’ and 1 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 1.5%

Shares of Man Infraconstruction Ltd. advanced over 3.5% to hit a 52-week high of Rs 88.80 apiece after Man Infra Contracts LLP was appointed as developer by Juhu Sai Darshan Co-operative Housing Society Ltd, in Juhu, Mumbai to undertake redevelopment work.

• In an exchange filing, Man Infraconstruction said that it expected to generate total revenue of Rs 250 crore from the Juhu project.

• Man Infraconstruction holds 70% partnership interest in Man Infra Contracts LLP.

• Trading volume on the stock was 3.9 times the 30-day average volume at-time for this time of the day.

• The relative strength index on the stock was 82, suggesting it may be overbought.

Shares of eClerx Services Ltd. rose nearly 5%, the most intraday gains in over 3 weeks to Rs 2,348.95 apiece.Trading volume on the stock was 2.9 times the 30-day average volume at-time for this time of the day.

In an exchange filing post market hours Tuesday, eClerx Services said that its board of directors will meet on Friday to consider and approve the final times and conditions of buy back of equity shares of the company.

All the nine analysts tracking the company maintained ‘buy’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 8.1%

Shares of Ramkrishna Forgings Ltd. rose 4.27% to Rs 1,062 apiece after the company bagged an export order worth Rs 25 crore($3.5 million per annum) from a North American customer in Oil & Gas segment.

Trading volume on the stock was 1.7 times the 30-day average volume at-time for this time of the day.

The relative strength index on the stock was 75, suggesting that it may be overbought.

All the three analysts tracking the company maintained a ‘buy’ recommendation. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 5.7%.

Indian stocks rose, with S&P BSE Sensex Index on course to surpass recent record highs, led by gains in consumer-durables companies.

Twenty of the 30 shares in the Sensex rose, while 10 fell. All but two of the 19 sectoral gauges compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced. An index of consumer-durables stocks jumped 1.6% to trade at a new high as a lifting of pandemic-led curbs on businesses and the upcoming festival season provided optimism about a pickup in demand for refrigerators, washing machines and electrical appliances.

• The NSE Nifty 50 Index hit a record high 17,445.95 in intra-day trade.

• The index clocked its previous record high of 17,438.55 on Tuesday.

Shares of Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd. rose 4.88%, the most in six months, to Rs 130 apiece. Trading volume was five times the average for this time of the day.

The rise comes amid media reports saying that ONGC is looking to buy out IL&FS' stake in Mangalore Special Economic Zone.

The stock was also raised to 'Outperform' from 'Neutral' by Macquarie.

The brokerage firm also hiked its target price on the stock to Rs 160 from Rs 120, an implied return of 25.2%.

India's stock benchmarks opened higher, aided by gains in auto, power and realty stocks, amid mixed global cues. U.S. inflation in August was less-than-forecast, easing pressure on the U.S. Federal Reserve to start tapering stimulus while data from China showed that economy weakened further.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.16% to 58,338.78. The NSE Nifty 50 also advanced by similar magnitude to 17,413.50. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 0.6%. Oil & Natural Gas Corp. had the largest increase, rising 4.5%.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap largely and S&P BSE SmallCap gaining 0.4%. Barring S&P Finance & S&P BSE Bankex indexes, all the other 17 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. advanced, with S&P BSE Consumer Durables index adding nearly 1%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,725 stocks advanced, 619 declined and 98 remained unchanged.

Indian bonds may gain tracing an overnight drop in U.S. yields and crude oil prices. Traders will await a Rs, 17,000 crore sale of treasury bills to gauge the direction of short-term rates.

• India’s bond yields rose on Tuesday due to an unexpected rise in wholesale prices even as data the previous day showed consumer prices easing

• 10-year yields rose 1bp at 6.2% on Tuesday

• USD/INR little changed at 73.6862 on Tuesday

• Global Funds Buy Net Rs 1,650 crore of India Stocks Tuesday: NSE

  • They sold Rs 478 crore of sovereign bonds under limits available to foreign investors, and withdrew Rs 150 crore of corporate debt

• State-run banks bought Rs 1,920 crore of sovereign bonds on Sept. 14: CCIL data. Foreign banks sold Rs 302 crore of bonds.

• RBL Bank has today started issuing credit cards to its new customers on Visa’s payment network.

• The launch comes after successful technology integration with the new platform following the agreement between RBL Bank and Visa on July, the company said in an exchange filing.

• RBL Bank has 5% market share in credit cards in India.

Stocks of Indian makers of automobiles and components will be in focus after a media report said the government may revise rules of its ambitious production-linked incentives plan for the sector.

• India’s Cabinet is likely to approve new rules that will expand focus on local production of electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the Press Trust of India reported, citing people it didn’t identify.

  • The report also said the government may slash total outlay on auto sector incentive plan to Rs 26,000 crore from Rs 57, 040 crore announced earlier.

• In Focus: Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Motor, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra

• Shares of component and related infrastructure makers like Bharat Forge, Tube Investments, Bosch, Exide Industries, Amara Raja Batteries, Motherson Sumi, Escorts, SONA BLW Precision Forging may also react.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has successfully completed the Post Marketing Study on Favipiravir (Fabiflu) in India. The study commenced in July 2020 to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Favipiravir in mild to moderate Covid-19 patients.

1,083 patients were enrolled in the study whose findings include no concerns with the use of Favipiravir. The side-effects were also found to be mild in nature. The time for fever resolution was 4 days, while the time taken for clinical cure was 7 days. The average age of patients in the study was 40 years, with women comprising 40%, while men comprised 60% of the study population, Glenmark said in an exchange filing.

This is the first and largest post marketing study conducted in India on Favipiravir in mild-to-moderate Covid-19 patients.

Glenmark became the first company in India to receive restricted emergency use approval for Favipiravir from the drug regulator on June 19, 2020. The approval was granted as part of an accelerated approval process to arrest in surge in Covid-19 cases during the first wave.

HCL Technologies Ltd. has expanded partnership with Finastra to drive digital transformation across South Korea and Taiwan. Finastra is a pure-play software vendor serving the financial services industry, headquartered in London.

In an exchange filing before market hours Wednesday, HCL Technologies said it will use next-gen digital capabilities to bring two of Finastra’s strategic products – Fushion Cash Management & Fusion Summit, to the financial services ecosystem in the region.

Most Asian stocks fell on Wednesday amid growth concerns, while treasuries retained gains in the wake of inflation data that signaled flexibility for the Federal Reserve over when to start tapering stimulus.

Shares retreated in Japan and Australia, but edged higher in South Korea. U.S. futures rose. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 declined overnight. The 10-year Treasury yield remained below 1.3%, narrowing the yield gap between short- and longer-maturity U.S. debt. Bonds in Australia and New Zealand also advanced. The dollar was steady.

India’s SGX Nifty 50 Index futures for September delivery rise 0.2% to 17,417.00, while MSCI Asia Pacific Index -0.7%. The NSE Nifty 50 Index gained 0.1% on Tuesday to 17,380.00.

U.S. inflation was less than forecast in August, supporting the view that pandemic-related price pressures could be transitory but leaving the overall argument undecided. A gauge of commodity prices remains around a decade-high, underscoring the rise in costs filtering across the global economy.

In China, investors are awaiting economic data that are likely to show the damage done from a Covid-19 outbreak. Traders are also monitoring Beijing’s regulatory curbs and the debt woes of developer China Evergrande Group.

Elsewhere, oil gained after a U.S. industry report showed a decline in inventories of crude and gasoline, signaling a tightening market.

Back home, trade data for August is scheduled to be released today. HPCL, IDFC First, Parag Milk are holding their annual shareholders’ meeting. Foreign investors bought net Rs 1,410 crore of stocks on Monday, according to NSDL website.